In drilling for oil, water, or other substances beneath the earth, much use is made of strings of pipe. The pipe, tubing, or the like, may be used to add fluids to, or remove them from the earth. Pipes are also used as a means of transmitting power to a drilling device, e.g., rotary drill. Pipes are also used in certain well repair operations, i.e., well workovers. Usually, a string of pipe is used comprising many individual threaded sections to make up the desired length of pipe or tubing. As pipe goes down the hole, extra sections are threaded on.
In a drilling and/or workover operation, the pipe is usually placed near the well bore to minimize transport and handling of the tubing. The tubing or pipe may be stored vertically, if there is room for storage on the drilling rig. Frequently, such storage is not available, either because of the great amount of pipe involved, or because a relatively small "workover" rig is used to pull tubing, and such small rigs cannot accomodate any significant amount of pipe in vertical storage. In these cases, the pipe is stored horizontally, near the well site.
Typically, a joint of tubing is removed from the well string by unscrewing it from the well string. Usually the threaded or male end, of the pipe is pointing downward, with the top end of the joint of tubing being supported from the top of the derrick. The threads are conventionally protected by metal or plastic caps, with the capped end then being slid along a rack of pipes. Unfortunately, the threaded ends, even when capped, are subject to much wear and consequent deterioration as a result of being slid along a rack of pipes. It would be very beneficial to the industry if a better way of moving the threaded pipe around were available. I studied the problem and found a way to eliminate most of the problems associated with prior art ways of "pulling tubing."